Bearing unit structure



Sept. 30, 1 95 Q w rr BEARING UNIT STRUCTURE 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Oct. 11, 1949 IN VE N TOR m w m u. E z

A TTORNEYS Sept 30, 1952 c, wHlTE 2,612,417

BEARING UNIT STRUCTURE Filed Oct. 11, 1949 I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVENTOR GLUE CLlY WHITE 1 ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 30, 1952 BEARING UNIT STRUCTURE Elz'le C. White, Princeton, Ind., assignor to Hansen Manufacturing Company, Princeton, v incorporation of (Indiana Animation October '11, 1949, Serial NQ,[130,740

' 4.Clainis. (Cl..308-- 132') This invention relates to bearing constructions and is'particularly concerned with an improved bearing construction for electric clock motors and the like.

I In the manufacture of electric clocl; motors and similar articlesof commerce, it has always been diiii'cult to provide a proper 'bearlngfor the rohating-part of the motor and to maintain the bearing properly lubricated at all times.'- This comes about because the bearings are necessarily "rather small, and after being machined and cleaned'and then assembled with other parts of themotondo not always 'provide the exact alignment 'necessary properly to support the rotor of the motor.

With particular regard to electric clock motors,

the rotor thereof'is driven by a verysmall torque so that of necessity only a smal1=bearing area forth'e shaft of the rotor can be provided, because otherwise the frictional drag of the bear: ing on the rotor shaft would materially detract "fromthe power output thereof.

This has ledto the practice of providing spaced bearings for'the rotor shaft so that a'fairly small area ofcontactbetween the rotor shaftand bear ings can be maintained, but, at the same time, the rotor s'ha'ftis firmly held in'position.

As explained above, bearings of this type are diliflcdlt to mount in proper alignment and, ad- -"ditionally, are difiicult to lubricate properly in orderto give them the desired length of life.

The "particular object of 'the present invention is the provision of an improved bearing construction which overcomes the'difliculties referred to'above.

with small electric clock motors.

Figuressfiiand 4-are perspective:vievvs of ed e- -taining means to be assembled withthe bearing for insuring a continuous supply of lubricant to the-bearing surfaces;-and

FigureS is a perspective view :similartoi ig'ure 2, but showing the-parts in partially'disassembled Dositlona. Referring to theydrawi-ngs somewhat more in detail, the bearing arrangement shown threin is especially constructed for use in connection The :entire motor is not "illustrated in the drawings, :because the particular construction thereof forms I no part of the instant invention. Such a motor,

however, comprises a central magnetic 'hub part I0 and a rotor I 2, the said rotor' par being Another object is the provision of a'bearing' "c'onstruction'in which spaced bearing areas which "arein exact'alignment 'atall times are provided.

A'stillfurther object is the provision of an improved bearing construction including an im- ,proved'arrangement for insuring adequate lubri- I n oil-retainingmember-Mwhich is -so-;-cqnstructcation of the bearing surfaces at all times.

A'st'il1 further object is the provision of a "bearing arrangement in which more :exactresults are obtained than has heretofore'been'possibleand by means of substantially conventional machining operations.

'lIhese and other objects andadvantages will become more apparent 'upon' reference to the Iollowingdesctiption taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which vFigure 1 is a sectional viewtaken through a bearing arrangement 1 according to" my invention; Figure 2 is a perspective vi'ew 3 thereof partly .broken'away; l v

be placed in ibore' i 8 0i hub I'll.

driven by the magnetic'neld established by the coil of the motor :which is mounted about the hub part III. 1 133 Ro'tor t2 comprises a shaftfll eXtndingaxially-through bore :IS in zhub l0. shaft l l is jour- "naled on the bearing arrangement of this' -inven- -tion,-andwhich is mounted in -=bore l 6,--'as generallyindicated at 18. The said bearing somprises a pair I of telescopic "cylinder parts -20 'and 22, each of which hasthe bearing snrface 24* thereonadjacenttheendp- Y As' will be seen in Figure 1,-member 22 isshouldered at 2B, sothat when the members ar-e-placed =together in their assembled position, *--they'form a substantially cylindrical unit-which cam-readily 'Member 22 :is centrally axially bored-"as 28 so that when members 20 and *22 are placed together, :as-shown, they define a cavity jbetween thef-bearing surfaces 24 and around *shaft '14. This cavity is employed to 'advard'age as a lubricantreservoir forproviding -a continuous= supply of lubricant toshaft l4 and bearing s'urfaces Preferably, there is provided -wi-th*th e --cavity & ed as to have a capillary action so that-regard less of the position in which 'the --motor-'i s mount- 'ed, oil within the -cavity will 1 be carrie'd' to' both of-thebearing -surfaces=2 4.

According 'togone formwhich my invention ma-y take, "this oil retaining member ;m ay comprise a crimped-or fluted sleeve, as indicated atizjin Figure 3, Another form which the member-may take is that of a longitudinally slotted gear lilge element, as indicatedat 34 in;Figure;4. n either has sufiiciently small clearance either about the shaft, or about the walls, or ends of the cavity, so that any oil within the said cavity is carried by capillary action.

The parts 20 and 22 of the bearing arrangement are made of any suitable good bearing material, such as bronzewhich is turned'out to the proper shape by machining, such as by a screw machine. Other materials also suggest them,- selves for use as bearing materials, such as certain plastics or combinations of plastic andmetal according to practices well known in the bear ing art.

4 centric to bore t6 and hub 10 and will be firmly supported thereon so that when the rotor is placed in position with its shaft supported by the bearing surfaces 24, the rotor will be exactly positioned relative to the other parts of the motor. The cavity within the bearing structure having been filled withoil at the timeofyassembly of the The oil retaining member similarly can be man- A:

ufactured of a number of different materials, and I have found aluminum, brass, bronze, and tin coated materials to be highly satisfactoryfor'establishing. the capillary spaces internally of the bearing arrangement for the storing of lubricant. In-the manufacturing of-the bearing arrangement, the parts -2llan d 22 are individually manufacture'd, so that they telescopetogetheras illustrated in Figure 1. This can bedone byturning the parts out on a screwmachineor by molding the parts, and thereafter turning them.

The preferable manner of manufacturing the .bearingaccordin to this: invention is to individ- -ually'form" the two parts thereof by screw machiningoperations or the like, each .part being completely formed during onesetupr-Thus, the internal member l8 would be turnedboth exter- -nally and;,internally"andalso have its bearing bore; drilled and reamed in one set-upflof the screw machine, whereas the external part 20 :wouldiat leastbe internally bored and would have :its bearing surface bored and reamed. 'Both of thefparts could, of course, be externally finished along their largest diameters if desired.

After the bearing partsare individually formed, "they are cleaned and then, when they are brought together; the closely-fitting turned parts provide .for an exact radial alignment of the-bearing suri'aces-24. At the same time shoulder 26provides 'for an exact spacing of'the said bearing surfaces,

that by manufacturing the bearing according to this invention, there results a bearin assembly characterized by having bearingsurfaces that :are automatically located by the assembling of 'the'parts in both radial and axial directions; The

- benefits of this will'be obvious in connection with the production of motors of thetype'referred to.

Itwill be evident that while the preferred man- .nerof manufacturing the bearing assembly is-to turn out the parts thereof from bearing bronze or the like in a screw machine, a similar bearing structure could be had by molding the individual parts of the assembly from plastic material, either metallic or nonmetallic, and including-in the combination suitable anti-friction agents such asoil for graphite, if desired.

hearing, provides a reservoir for lubricant which will maintain the bearing surfaces 24 adequately lubricated for a considerable length of time,

The net results of the bearing arrangement describedabove and manufactured according to the .manufacturingisteps set forth is an improved motor. arrangement in which the rotor is assured "of being in proper alignment with the other parts of the'motor, andis supported on exactly aligned and adequately lubricated bearings.

Itwillbe understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages-and conditiona and accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications Within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims. x f I I claim: H y

l. A bearing having spaced relativelyvs'hort bearing surfaces and a relatively longlcavity therebetween and a rigid capillary elementin said cavity surrounding andspacedfromfthe space through which a shaft journaled in said It will also be apparent-that, if desired, the two parts of the bearing assembly could be machined so asto telescope together but without the bearingsurfaces thereof being finally finished. In this case, the twoparts of the bearing assembly vcoulcllbe brought together in telescopic relation- .ship, the bearing surfaces provided bywdrilling and reaming the end parts of the bearing mem- .bers. 1 s

, -In eithervcase, it will be noted that due to the manufacturing steps. recited above, the bearing surfaces 24 on the two parts of the bearingwill be r "in exactalignment when the bearing. parts are reassembled and mounted in the motor hub.

These bearing surfaces will also be exactly conmember having axially outer periphery.

surfaces extends and operable to conveyl lubricant from said cavity to said bearing surfaces by capillary action regardless of the position ofsaid bearing, said element comprising a cylindrical extending grooves its 2; A bearing having zspaced relatively-short bearing surfaces and a relatively longcavity therebetween and a rigid capillary element in said cavity surrounding and spaced from,,the space through which a shaft journaled in said surfaces extends and operable to. convey lubricant from said cavity to said bearing surfaces by capillary action regardless of the position-of said bearing, said elementcomprising acylindrical member having a bore of greater diameter than that of the said shaft and axial grooves on its outer surface, the outside diameter'of the element being such-a size-relative-tothe diameter of the cavity as always to space the wall of said bore from the surface of a-shaft in the bearing.

3.'A bearing having spaced relatively short bearing surfaces and a relatively long cavity therebetween and a rigid capillary element in said cavity surrounding and spaced from the space through which a shaft journaled in said surfaces extends and operable to convey lubricant from said cavity to said bearing surfaces by capillary action regardless of the position of said bearing, said element comprising a sleeve of thinmaterial crimped longitudinally and of substantially the same length as said cavity, andof substantially the same diameter as said cavity whereby .the element is always spaced fromth'e surface of a shaft in the bearing. r 1

4.- A bearing unit comprising a pair of elongated hollow sleeves each closed at one end and having concentric internal and external cylindrical surfaces throughout the respective lengths thereof, said closed ends each having axially extending bores centrally disposed therein to receive a shaft,"the internal diameter .of one sleeve being substantially equal to the external diameter of the other sleeve for permitting said sleeves to be placed together in telescopic engagement to axially align said bores, 21 shoulderon the said one sleeve to abut the end of the other sleeve to provide a cylindrical cavity therebetween of predetermined length with said bores spaced apart the length of said cylindrical cavity and of shorter lengths respectively relative to the axial length of said cavity,. and means in the cavityformed by the telescoped sleeves to supply lubricant'from the said cavity to the bearing surface of said shaft'receiving bores by capillary action.

ELZIE C. WHITE.

file of'this patent: v

Number Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Badger Dec. 16, 1884 McWilliams Feb. 17, 1903 Snyder May 3, 1910 Brown Nov. 9, 1915 Ganster Apr. 19,1932 Moore Oct. 25, 1932 Scott Nov. 1939.

FOREIGN PATENTS I Country Date Germany, Sept. 4,1902 Germany Jan. 19,1923

Germany"; Aug. 3, 1938 

